Intellectual property rights and endogenous economic growth uncovering the main gaps in the research agenda

Abstract

Introduction Intellectual Property Rights (IPRs) are "the rights to use and sell knowledge and inventions" (Greenhalgh and Rogers, 2007: 541), with the aim of guaranteeing adequate returns for innovators and creators. There are different types of intellectual property protection (Granstrand, 2005): old types such as patents, trade secrets, copyrights, trademarks and design rights, and new forms such as breeding rights and database rights. Nonetheless, patents are commonly considered as the most important and representative IPR (e.g., Besen and Raskind, 1991). IPR have a long legal and economic history, since the idea of intellectual property was already present in ancient cultures such as Babylonia, Egypt, Greece and the Roman Empire. Mokyr (2009) discusses the relevance of the late 19th century, when political events created a system which supported an executive that was sufficiently well organised to create a "rule of law" and respect private property rights. This argument emerges, in part, in the context of an Industrial Revolution marked by important technological improvements, whereby IPR began gradually to be accorded more respect. (.)